Refining Diablo 3’s Game Systems – GDC talk

This video is a blast from the past, it’s from 2013 but makes for some interesting viewing. In the video, Wyatt Cheng talks about the different Diablo 3 game system the team experimented with such as the rune systems, skill trees, health system and more. Knowing what we know now about the game’s shortcomings you can’t help but be disappointed at the team’s disconnect from Diablo 2. Much of what is discussed can also be found on the Diablo Wiki if you want to look through all the stuff that was removed. Read on for the video…

When watching the video it’s worth thinking about the reasoning for some of the systems that were removed or changed. There is definitely a sense of dumbing the game down with concerns such as too many tooltips, the D2 tree being easy to make mistakes on, and more.

We’ll have to put D3 down as a missed opportunity but there’s always Diablo 4 right?

Comments

I think Blizzard is building the Diablo 4 team from the ground up right now. They will create “One Diablo Team”. This team will be involved in the D2 remaster and in the creation of D4. This will ensure the whole “Diablo Team” understands the past (D2LOD) and will create a future (D4) that will “breathe Diablo”. I have hope for D4 just because of that fact. The reason why I think Blizzard is building and teaching the new Diablo team on the “art of Diablo”, is because of how many Job Postings are formulated. Many of the “Classic” Job Postings that are directly for the D2-Remaster mention the requirement to also “explore opportunities for the future of the franchise”.

This position is for the “Classic Games” team, and that person will be “remastering” D2-LOD, but also building D4.

It seems as if Blizzard is creating a “Core Diablo Team”. This core Diablo team will be responsible for restoring D2, by means of creating a “Remastered” D2 LOD. Further, that team will investigate why D2LOD is played 18 years after it’s release and why people love it’s systems so much. They will attempt to bring those systems back while pushing them to the next level with silk gloves.

This process will educate and enlighten this new Diablo Team to understand D2LOD and thus enable them to build a D4 that will make all D2LOD fans feel “At home” right of the bat in D4. This is one of the major failures of D3, it simply failed to make any D2 player feel “at home”. This mistake cannot be repeated in D4, and Blizzard knows this.

This “core Diablo Team” will have massive decision power, and although the Game-Director will be the front of the project, he will be heavily advised and instructed by the “Core Diablo Team”. This Diablo committee of “Diablo Directors” will together build and lead the development of D4. This will ensure no single person can cause massive harm to the project of D4, like it happened in D3. The Core-Diablo team will live and breathe “Diablo”.

Or maybe I am just overestimating Blizzard’s skill and professionalism in handling the future of the Diablo Franchise, and we will see the same fiasco unfold once more with D4, while they hold their hands in front of their eyes and ears repeating “We know better”.

The Diablo Team needs to consist of people that deeply understand and LOVE D2LOD from the ground up with all it’s quirks. This is the only way to ensure the future will be glorious once more starting with D4.

yeah we can always hope for Diablo 4 (that’s better than both games,D3 sure have many flaws but it improved on some aspects) but before they leave D3 , I hope they give us a conclusion to Shen & the scoundrel stories there was many signs in D3ROS that they were planning for another expansion but it’s obvious they scrapped it & coverted it to the new areas & mobs in adventure mode & that’s fine with me but please finish the damn stories & don’t keep them like this,it’s annoying